With Me, You've Got Nothing To Fear
by what a feeling
Summary: Percy loves Annabeth, and one day, he's in love with her. It's all really blurred lines, anyway. Percabeth. One-shot. AU.


**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the characters of Percy Jackson & The Olympians, or anything else you may recognize.**

Percy is fifteen years old when he starts dating Rachel. He likes her, she's easy to understand- She tells him exactly what she's thinking, and doesn't leave him helpless and groping in the dark. She knows that he can't read her mind, and respects it, and Percy is eternally grateful for that. God knows he'd go through hell if he was dating someone like Annabeth- She'd have driven him insane with all the unspoken words, she would have.

He loves Annabeth, that goes without saying, really, but he knows how difficult she can be sometimes. He's currently sat with Rachel in the cafeteria, and she's bent over her artists' notepad, paintbrush steady, although Percy isn't sure why- Her 'art' is really just a couple of large loosely shaped rectangles that doesn't look like something that required as much concentration as she's paying it. He's got his arm slung over the back of her seat, and he's leaning back so his chair is balanced on the two legs at the back. He's not really paying attention to anything, just looking around the cafeteria lazily.

There's a _thud_! and he straightens up, looking up at Thalia, who's slammed her lunch on the table with a scowl on her face. If Percy didn't know her better, he would've asked, but he knows that she's just an angry, red balloon, waiting to burst- And he sure as hell wasn't going to be the one with the pin. He smiles pleasantly at her, and she ignores him, plopping down on the seat opposite Rachel, who, if she noticed Thalia at all, ignored her.

"Where's everyone else?" Thalia demands, crossing her arms over her chest like a three year old throwing a temper tantrum. Percy shrugs.

"Chris and Jason were still in class when I left, and I think I saw Grover with Juniper in the lunch line." He answers vaguely, because he's not sure who 'everyone else' really is. Percy didn't generally hang out with a lot of people- Most of these people were _Annabeth_ 's friends who'd kind of been conned into sitting with Percy, too, because they were something like a package deal.

"

"And Annabeth?" Thalia's scowl deepened. "I need to talk to her-"

"And so, here she is." A voice behind Percy said pleasantly, and he turned around to see his best friend slide into the seat in front of him with a bright grin that almost instantly makes Percy's day better. He can't stop his own smile, and even Rachel looks up. He thinks that if he didn't have Annabeth by his side, he'd be the most unhappy, depressing introvert with absolutely no goals in life. In a lot of ways, he thinks of Annabeth as his sunshine. She looks over at Rachel's blobs, nods in appreciation.

"Rothko?" She asks, and Rachel beams, clearly pleased that someone could recognize her work. Percy wonders how long it's going to take for Rachel to get used to Annabeth knowing everything about everything.

"Can't believe you could make out." Annabeth shrugs at this.

"You're just really good." She doesn't wait for Rachel's response, turning to Thalia. "What's up, grumpy pants?" She nudges her other best friend (Percy hates that she calls Thalia that).

"Jameson is out to get me. I've got detention for the rest of the week."

"What did he claim you did?" Annabeth asks, and Percy scoffs, earning a kick under the table. Annabeth is only choosing her words wisely, because everyone at the table knows Thalia has a knack for getting into trouble.

"Well, technically-" Percy doesn't even want to know. He watches Rachel paint for a while, but loses interest in it soon enough, so he pulls out his phone instead.

oOo

Percy's known Annabeth for so long, he doesn't remember a time before her, which is why he knows how broken she really is.

He's had a long day, what with schoolwork and his basketball coach pushing the boys even harder than usual- State championships are in three months, boys, and none of you are in shape! He can't really feel his legs anymore, and he waits in his car for Annabeth to get out of cheerleading practice. It doesn't take long for her to open the door and drop onto the seat- Which is so _unlike_ Annabeth, he knows immediately that something's wrong. He decides to give her some time, so they drive in silence. She's glaring at the road ahead, playing with the skirt of her uniform.

He pulls into his garage, and parks the car, turning to look at her. She's still avoiding his gaze, brows pulled together in a frown. He wants to ask her what's wrong, but he's also a little scared, so he settles for placing a hand on her knee.

It seems to do the trick, because she turns to look at him, offering him a small smile, and Percy's heart breaks at her expression. The usually confident, bright eyed, _glowing_ Annabeth that everyone sees in school is replaced by the saddest eyes he's ever seen, her lips parted slightly and turned down. Percy doesn't want to know what's happened, he just wants to hug her and hold her close.

"I love you." He tells her, because he means it, and he doesn't know what else to say. She nods mutely, and there's tears flowing down her face. Percy slips out of the car, rushing to open her door. He helps her out, and she's immediately stuck to his chest, and she's sobbing now.

Percy buries his head in her curls, because it's all he really can do.

"She's left." She cries into his polo, and Percy thinks a part of him is dying.

He remembers when Annabeth's mom left- It was a sunny day, and Percy came home from a day of playing with Jason and Nico to find Annabeth sat on the couch. She seems happy, playing with some of her dolls, and Percy sent his mom a questioning look, because even though he liked Annabeth, he wasn't sure why his neighbor was in his living room. His mom had taken him aside, telling him that things aren't going to be happy for Annabeth for a while, even though she doesn't understand it yet. She told him to be nice to Annabeth, like he's ever done anything but, and that Annabeth was going to be spending the next few days with them until her parents dealt with something.

Annabeth understood the situation not long after- She'd always been a smart girl, and she'd cried for days together. Of course, she hadn't known some of the facts before, but she did now- Like how her mother didn't want to have anything to do with either her father, or her, the four year old she'd left without so much as a glance behind. She'd come to Percy when she finally found out, and he'd let her cry herself to sleep that night, without offering her as much as a word.

After her dad remarried, she'd found it harder and harder to get along with her stepmom, who, even to Percy, didn't seem to like Annabeth a whole lot. It wasn't a long shot to assume she'd thrown her hands up in the air and stormed out because she didn't think she could deal with Annabeth.

"How did you find out?" He asks her silently.

"He texted me during practice. Said he's spoken to Sally, and I'm supposed to stay out of the way for a while." Which means she's staying with him, and Percy holds her tighter.

"I love you." He tells her again, and she nods into his chest.

oOo

"Are you going to stay in touch once I leave?"

Percy turns to look at Annabeth, who's lying on the grass beside him. She's staring up at him with large eyes, waiting for an answer. It's a simple question, but it's loaded, and Percy knows he's got to choose his words wisely.

"If you want me to." He tells her slowly.

"I do." She nods, tucking herself under his arm. There's two months of high school left, and Annabeth's gotten a full scholarship to Harvard, which means she's headed off to Massachusetts in a couple of months, and Percy almost wishes he'd worked harder on his grades so he could be there with her. It's unrealistic, though, because she's an AP-straight-A student, and he's barely scraping C's in regular classes, but he doesn't want her to be so far away from him. He's never going to say that to her, though, because he doesn't want to trigger off any kind of separation anxiety in her.

For being such a strong person, Annabeth's really damaged, and Percy knows it. She's seventeen, had two women walk out on her, her father ignore her for years, and a four year long boyfriend try to take advantage of her after having abused her for nearly a year without anybody finding out.

She's had enough of empty promises to last her a lifetime, and Percy doesn't know how she copes with it. Her eyes aren't as bright as they were, and her posture is slightly slumped, but she comes into school with a tiny skirt and a large smile, and Percy feels his heart swell with pride and love and everything positive in the world.

"You're always going to be my best friend." He tells her, and she rolls away from him, sitting up. When she speaks, her voice is a little cold.

"Please, don't." She doesn't face him, but she's getting up, dusting the grass off of her. "You don't know. Always is a difficult commitment, Perce." She's speaking softly now, and Percy watches her leave. He wants to run after her, but he means what he said, and he doesn't want to take it back. He lets her go, because it's better than apologizing for something he means.

I'll show her.

oOo

Percy's relationship with Rachel is steady- They both go to NYU, and spend a lot of time together. Both, his mom and stepdad like Rachel, and on the rare occasion that she does go over to dinner, she helps with the cooking. Percy's relieved that his parents don't hate his girlfriend, and he thinks he'll be fine.

He FaceTimes Annabeth twice a week, and spends almost his entire day texting her. They send each other a lot of pictures, and Percy's happy for her, because slowly, she's reconstructing her life. Her smiles are starting to look easier and she's introduced him to all her new friends. She's not just there yet, but she's getting there, and Percy can't be prouder.

She's scheduled to come home for Christmas, and, Percy's getting his car keys the second he sees Dr. Chase's name flashing on his phone, because of course he's too busy to pick her up. He worries that it might upset her, but she seems to be happy enough when she flies into his open arms, laughing as he spins her around. He doesn't want to let her go, but he does, just so Rachel, Thalia and Grover can take turns hugging her. He slings his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him, and it doesn't occur to him to ask Rachel if it's okay for Annabeth to take the passenger seat.

"Tell me about college!" Thalia's yelling, because Thalia is just the type to yell when she's excited. She'd decided that college wasn't going to be her cup of tea, and started to work at a recording studio a while ago. Grover, who studies at Pomona, comes down almost every weekend, so Percy doesn't really think of him as being very far away.

Annabeth's talking, Percy's driving, Thalia's bullying Grover and Rachel's laughing, and in that moment, everything was _perfect_.

They head back to Annabeth's, which is really just across the street from Percy's place, and they're all lounged in her room, talking about their lives. Percy watches Annabeth speak, her eyes wide and happy, as they crinkle on the sides when she laughs, and he feels like he's come home, too.  
After a while, Rachel tells him she's leaving, presses a kiss to his lips and leaves. Percy turns to see three very coy smiles at him, so he raises his brows.

"What?"

"Tell us about you and Rachel." Thalia makes herself comfortable on Annabeth's lavender bean bag, and Percy frowns.

"What about us?"

"How good is she in bed?" Thalia wiggles her brows, and Percy feels his face heat up. He avoids their eyes, Annabeth's, especially when he answers.

"We didn't- I, uh." He tells them, and Grover rolls his eyes.

"You're nineteen years old, Percy. What are you waiting for?"

"Not really what so much as who." Percy's found his voice again, because he can pretend the conversation isn't about him and Rachel anymore. Annabeth's brows are well into her hairline at his response.

"You guys have been dating for four years, seems like wedding bells to me." She urges, and Percy realizes the weight of what he said.

"I didn't mean- Oh, no- It's not like that-" Everyone's looking at him. "I mean, I don't know." He finally sighs. "She's great, I mean, sure, yeah. Mom likes her. Paul likes her. You guys like her." He gestures to them, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just don't see it going much further, is that bad?" Annabeth moves so she's sitting next to him. She wraps her arms around his neck, nuzzles his side with her cold nose.

"It's fine, Seaweed Brain." She tells him, pressing a kiss to his cheek and Percy's stomach's doing back flips and the trapeze. He turns to look at her, and he's seeing someone happy. Someone who's had a difficult past, but is over it. A strong young woman who's not letting her past affect her future, and Percy has the strongest urge to kiss her. He blinks out of it, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her onto his lap.

"I haven't had the chance to do this in a while." He grins, poking at her sides, and she's squealing with laughter, begging for him to stop, but Grover and Thalia (Percy's a little ashamed to say he'd forgotten they were in the room) join in, and everything is great.

oOo

It's Annabeth's twenty first birthday, and she's home for summer vacation, so they decide to celebrate by going to one of the new bars that's opened up. It's a nice place, not too dingy, and, they slide into a booth.

Rachel and Percy did break up, and while they weren't really on the best of terms, Rachel still sometimes spoke to Annabeth, and Percy thinks he can live with that. Grover, Thalia and Percy are already twenty one, and because Annabeth skipped the first grade, she's the youngest of them all. They order their drinks, and when Annabeth downs her shot, Percy knows that was by no means her first drink. First legal one, maybe.

They drink for a long while, and Percy lets himself get drunk enough to not remember what happened the previous day, until, as in every clichéd novel, he wakes up in Annabeth's bed, stark naked. For the first moment, he panics, and he's about to make a run for it, but he sees Annabeth's bare back turned to him. Her blonde hair is messy, and he can still see some of the scars she has from the unforgivable things Matthew, her high school boyfriend, had done to her, and in the glow of the morning light, she looks like a heavenly being, and Percy decides he doesn't really mind.

His head is pounding, but he goes back to sleep with a smile on his face.

When he wakes up again, Annabeth's curled under his arm, and she's drawing patterns on his chest. He looks down at her, and she smiles up at him before turning her attention to her patterns, and Percy can bet they're interior design structures. He rubs her back gently.

"'Morning." He mumbles, and she stops for just long enough to lean up, press a kiss against his jaw.

"Good morning." She whispers. He slowly pulls her fingers away from his chest, choosing to hold her palm above his heart.

"What's this going to be, then?" He asks her, and she grins, getting up and onto his chest, straddling him. She leans over him so she's lying on top of him, her face inches from his.

"Thought you'd never ask." She beams, and when she kisses him, Percy can't think straight- No, he can't think at all, and his insides are much. He cups her face in his pals, kissing her softly back. He thinks it's magical, how in sync their lips are, and he wonders if Annabeth's seeing the fireworks he is.

She draws back, still smiling, and Percy sees his best friend he fell in love with a very long time ago.

"I love you." He tells her, because it's not too soon. If anything, it's too late.

"And I love you." She presses a kiss to his nose before rolling off of him and standing up so she can find some clothes to put on.

oOo

Percy is twenty five years old when he marries Annabeth. He loves her, she's easy to understand- She doesn't tell him exactly what she's thinking, but that doesn't leave him helpless and groping in the dark. She knows that he can read her mind, and plays around, and Percy is eternally grateful for her. God knows he'd go through hell for Annabeth- She drives him insane with all the unspoken words, and he wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
